Sebi moves court over jurisdiction on ULIPs

In the face of Hyderabad-based Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority's  (IRDA) decision of moving court to challenge a ban on Unit Linked Insurance Products (ULIP) imposed by it, market watchdog the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) today moved the Supreme Court and some High Courts to guard against any ex-parte decision.

According to highly placed sources, the Sebi filed caveats including in High Courts of Delhi, Bombay and Hyderabad but no official comments could be obtained from the market regulator.

The Sebi had last week said that all ULIPs issued after April 9 will have to have its approval. This was questioned by insurance sector regulator IRDA.

The caveat comes a day after the government asked both regulators - Sebi and IRDA - to move court immediately to resolve differences over who will have jurisdiction over ULIPs.

On April 10, the Sebi had banned 14 life insurance companies, including those belonging to Tatas, SBI, ICICI, HDFC and Reliance Anil Ambani group from raising funds through ULIP without its approval.

Later on April 14, the market regulator came out with a second order that the exempted existing ULIP schemes of these 14 players from the ban.